OTTAWA — Saying he may have made a mistake by saying his main residence was on Prince Edward Island, Sen. Mike Duffy has pledged to repay thousands of dollars in housing allowances he has been claiming from taxpayers.

Duffy, who has ducked detailed questions from reporters for days, made the surprise comments in television interviews Friday. He said he rents a room in Charlottetown during the winter when he visits the Island, while spending summers at a cottage in Cavendish. He has a residence is in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa.

Duffy said he had voluntarily decided to pay back the living expenses he has claimed, saying the controversy his claims have prompted over the last several weeks has been a “major distraction.” He said he and his wife made the decision to repay the money Thursday night, although he didn’t believe he had done anything wrong. He said Senate forms to claim a housing allowance are vague.

“The Senate rules on housing allowances aren’t clear, and the forms are confusing. I filled out the Senate forms in good faith and believed I was in compliance with the rules. Now it turns out I may have been mistaken,” Duffy said in a statement.

“Rather than let this issue drag on, my wife and I have decided that the allowance associated with my house in Ottawa will be repaid.”

It was unclear how much he planned to repay. Available public records show he has claimed $42,807 in housing allowances from Sept. 1, 2010, to Nov. 30, 2012. He became a senator in 2009.

Duffy has been under investigation, along with two other senators — Sen. Mac Harb and Sen. Patrick Brazeau — for housing allowance claims made over the past three years. The result of an audit into their expenses is expected next month. A fourth senator, Pamela Wallin, is the subject of a separate audit focused on her travel.

Duffy’s announcement caught many in the Senate flat-footed, and it was unclear late Friday how the repayment promise and his explanations would be treated.

“The Senate committee on internal economy has not heard formally from Senator Duffy,” Sen. David Tkachuk, who chairs the powerful oversight committee, told Postmedia News. “The steering committee (overseeing the investigations) will be meeting to discuss this next week.”

Under Senate rules, senators who live more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill are allowed to claim up to $22,000 a year in living expenses in the capital. Under provincial rules in Prince Edward Island, Duffy is not considered a resident of the Island because he doesn’t spend enough time there to qualify for a resident tax credit.

The Constitution requires a senator to be a resident of the province he or she represents, but the term is not well-defined. The Senate is currently reviewing the interpretation.

Though he was born in Charlottetown, Duffy spent more than 30 years working as a journalist in Ottawa before joining the red chamber.

But he told CTV Friday, “I am entitled to be a senator from P.E.I.; I meet all the constitutional requirements. There is nothing in the rules anywhere that says how much time you should spend on P.E.I.”

Senators are required to fill out forms once a year declaring where their primary residence is, and must also fill out monthly forms declaring how many days they spend in Ottawa to claim the daily allowance of $29 per day for those when they are at their secondary residence.

“What we’ve got here is a case where the rules aren’t clear,” Duffy told CTV. “I filled in a form that the Senate has, which I may have filled in incorrectly.”

Liberal MP Wayne Easter, who represents the riding where Duffy’s cottage is located, told The Guardian newspaper in Prince Edward Island that repaying the money doesn’t answer key questions about Duffy’s residency, specifically where he pays income taxes.

“The Constitution of Canada states that a senator must be a resident of the region they represent. That means that senators, in my view, should be paying their taxes in P.E.I,” he said.

NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said the Senate should refer the matter to the RCMP. The red chamber should also make sure there is a full, public accounting of what happened in Duffy’s case, including any consequences he may face, Angus said.

“If you’re paying back 40,000 bucks, you’re busted,” Angus said. “Paying the money back is what happens when you get caught; now what are the consequences?”

Tory and Liberal leaders in the Senate had asked the internal economy committee, charged with investigating senators’ housing claims, to force anyone who can’t prove they played by the rules to repay the money with interest. The Senate leadership has also vowed to make the results of the audits public.

“We have committed to ensuring that all expenses are appropriate, that the rules governing expenses are appropriate and to report back to the public on these matters,” Sen. Marjory LeBreton, the government leader in the Senate, said in a brief statement. “Senator Duffy maintains a residence in Prince Edward Island and has deep ties to the province.”

A spokesman for Sen. James Cowan, the Liberal leader in the Senate, said he couldn’t comment because the audits have not yet been finalized.

On the Island itself, residents interviewed by Postmedia this week had mixed feelings about Duffy’s problems.

“He doesn’t represent us,” said Islander Alan Hoy, who knew Duffy in high school. “I don’t think any senator does, but he certainly doesn’t. He probably hasn’t spent a year on Prince Edward Island in the past 40 years. He lives in Ottawa.”

Many Islanders say they feel insulted by Duffy – and by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed him – for passing Duffy off as an Island representative in Ottawa. All Duffy really represents, these critics say, is the interests of the Harper government on the Island.

“Under our Constitution, the Senate exists to represent the regions of the country to Ottawa,” said Perry Williams, a filmmaker and video engineer who lives west of Charlottetown.

“So if there’s legislation going through Parliament that’s detrimental to a certain province, at least its senators can speak up on behalf of residents. I don’t see that from Mike Duffy. I see him as a cheerleader for the federal government.”

Mention Duffy’s name to Islanders at the Confederation Court Mall in downtown Charlottetown, or at the public marina in Montague on the Island’s eastern shore, or at a coffee shop in the town of Cornwall just outside Charlottetown, and the responses are mostly critical. Some even said he should resign his Senate seat.

There was some sympathy for Duffy. “Leave him alone,” said one man who didn’t give his name. “Quit persecuting him!”

One of Duffy’s problems, said Williams, is that he appears to visit the Island only to hand out government cheques on behalf of the federal Conservatives. In a tiny province where everyone knows everyone, Williams said other senators such as Percy Downe or former premier Catherine Callbeck are commonly seen in their local communities throughout the year.

Williams made fun of Duffy’s apparent scarcity with a recent YouTube video spoofing the old Canadian “Hinterland Who’s Who” television ads.

Brenda MacDonald, who administers the small municipality of Cavendish, told Postmedia News Duffy does attend many community events, and socializes regularly with summer residents on the north shore of P.E.I.

“We see him and his wife quite a lot in the summer,” she said.

Ron MacKinley, a longtime Island Liberal and a P.E.I. cabinet minister, said he runs into Duffy “five or six times a year” at federal-provincial funding announcements, where they share the podium at ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

Career: Duffy started as a journalist in 1971 covering Parliament Hill. He began working with CBC Radio News in 1974 and moved to CBC TV’s The National in 1978. He joined CTV in 1988 and hosted “Mike Duffy Live.”